Promised Land
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: With the end of the Fourth Tiberium War, the TCN was brought online and the majority of the Brotherhood ascended with their prophet. "Majority" however, was not the same as "all." What was to become of those left behind?


_The Third Tiberium War is over. And Nod is but a shadow of it was, but then that is how it should be. For only the chosen few will be allowed into the Promised Land._

Kane, 2052

* * *

**Promised Land**

In the year 2079, Colonel James felt uneasy when people asked if she was related to Colonel James.

To be specific, her name was Kirce James. The colonel people wondered if she was related to was Louise James. The one who'd led a segment of GDI against the Brotherhood of Nod in the Fourth Tiberium War. The one who'd perished at Threshold Tower at the hands of Kane himself, and the one who was either saint or sinner depending on who you asked. Sometimes, they asked the question in snark. Sometimes, they asked her in seriousness, to which Kirce would point out that she didn't look anything like Louise James. Then, if they wanted to continue the conversation, they'd point out that skin colour wasn't automatically indicative of a lack of relationship, to which she'd clarify that no, she wasn't related to Louise James, and that yes, she _had _reached her rank through hard work, not by the need of some nepotist to fill in the void the old colonel had left.

She'd hoped that two years after the last war, it would have stopped. Instead, the questions had kept coming. Right now, sitting in an Ox flying over what had once been Italy, she glanced at the GDI troopers sitting opposite of her, wondering if either of them would break their silence. It had been a three hour trip from New Adana, and so far, not one of them had opened their mouth. But still…

She let out a yawn. Checking her wrist unit, it confirmed that they would be touching down in six minutes. Six minutes left for the troopers to start cracking jokes, six minutes that she could potentially use to go over her documents again. Instead, she shifted the unit from the time display to a recording dated 27/5/78 – it showed a small habitation unit in New Adana that was no different from all the other ones. A birthday party was going on, as a girl blew out the candles of a cake – eight of them in one go, the next two in the second. People cheered and clapped. With a sad smile, Kirce froze the image, tracing her finger over the girl's cheek.

"Ma'am?"

And instantly stopped as she looked up at one of the troopers. A green visor had extended down from his helmet, from which a cord was plugged in from the side of the craft. He tapped the helmet.

"Might want to get a look."

"I'll keep that in mind, Private." She gave one last look at the girl on the wrist unit before attaching a cord into it as well. What popped onto the screen was a view from one of the Ox's external cameras. A view that showed the lands around what had been the River Tiber. The lands where tiberium had first appeared on Earth over eighty years ago. Lands that had once been part of Italy, had once been part of Zone R-1, and now didn't really have any designation at all. What awaited her was a view of…nothing.

Hills, granted. Grass. Trees. But there was an emptiness to the landscape, an artificiality that had stemmed from tiberium chewing up all organic matter (along with some of the mineral kind) as it warped the landscape into something that scientists theorized might be reminiscent of the scrin's homeworld. It was a landscape that had been cleansed of tiberium via the TCN, and left fully habitable with the surge from the Threshold tower two years ago. As powerful a force as tiberium had been, nature, even as wounded as it was by over eight decades of assault from the green crystal, had managed to bounce back in an astonishing amount of time. But, granted, it was nature with a human hand. The entire planet was in human hands now, and whatever passage Earth took, Kirce knew it would never be the same as it once was. Humans controlled the TCN. Humans controlled the environment. At the end of the day, both would be subordinate to human needs, or at least, the needs of those who lived under the banner of the Global Defence Initiative. Not the people who lived in these lands right now.

And then of course, there was the Threshold tower itself. Selecting the Ox's nose camera, Kirce got a good look at the structure. It appeared exactly the same as when the scrin had constructed it thirty-two years ago. So far, it had only activated twice. Once in 2058, when the scrin had tried to establish a foothold on Earth, and once again two years ago at the conclusion of the war. The surge that had fully activated the Tiberium Control Network. The surge that had taken Kane and most of the Brotherhood of Nod into some unknown land. The "Promised Land," as it was called. A term that Kirce knew she'd hear a lot once her meeting with her contact began in Observation Station 12 – one of many GDI outposts constructed around the perimeter of the tower to monitor for any signs of activity. The station that the Ox was now descending towards.

She deactivated the feed, took a breath, and did up her seatbelt. Her left hand was scrunched in a fist, her right was hanging onto one of the Ox's overhead bars.

"Everything alright ma'am?"

And one of the troopers must have noticed.

"Fine," she murmured. "It's just been a long time since I was last here."

* * *

_Been a long time since I was last here._

Her words echoed in her ears as she made her way through the hallways of the observation station, carrying a folder of documents with her. Technically, it had been a lie. She'd never been to Observation Station 12, she'd never been to Zone R-1, and when she'd been born in 2025, her chances to visit "Italy" had vanished, considering that it, like most of the world's countries, didn't exist in any geopolitical sense. The only claim she had to being here at all was when she'd supported Commander X in the Third Tiberium War, when she'd worked in GDI Theatre Ops, and even then she'd never moved outside the Pentagon. Not exactly a loss, since if she'd been anywhere near Threshold she'd have had to deal with the fallout of a liquid tiberium bomb that had killed millions, but still…

But still, she told herself as she made her way through the hallways, those days were past. Tiberium as it had been known since 1995 was a thing of the past. For all the damage the green crystal had inflicted upon the planet, for all the damage mankind had inflicted on itself over the same time period, those days were over. It was why, after passing through the last security checkpoint, she found herself in a meeting room. A large table with twelve chairs extended from the door to the flatscreen on the end. Windows ran across two of the windows, giving view to the surrounding empty landscape. And all that was in the room now was a bearded man wearing a black jacket, smoking a cigar, the ashes entangling in his beard. He looked at Kirce as she closed the door and smiled.

"Colonel James?' he asked.

She didn't return the smile. She was too busy looking at the cigar (a disgusting habit, she reflected) and the insignia on his jacket. A black scorpion on a red background. The insignia of the Brotherhood of Nod.

"Did you have a good trip?"

He extended a hand, and looking at it, Kirce could see that it was weathered. The type one might assume with a farmer as they appeared in storybooks, before farmland became rare and machines took over most of the work. Nevertheless, she gingerly shook it.

"Fine," she murmured.

He withdrew from the grasp and headed over for the water cooler. "I've been told that we won't be expecting anyone else," he said.

"We may, depending on how negotiations go." She put the documents down on the table and went over to get some water herself. "Best case scenario is that you and I come to an agreement, run it by our superiors, and we both get to go home. That shouldn't take more than a week."

The man smirked. "Ultimately that will be up to your superiors, Colonel. The only people I have to report to are those I lead."

Kirce tried to smile as well, but what came out instead was a grimace. "Of course," she murmured.

He shrugged and sat down at one of the chairs. After taking a sip of water, Kirce joined him.

The man's name was Antonio Marcos. She knew this because she'd been briefed on him before leaving New Adana, and even before that, she'd heard of him. At the end of the Battle of Threshold, with the disappearance of Kane (or "ascendance," according to his acolytes), the majority of the Brotherhood of Nod had simply disappeared from the face of the Earth. Multiple theories abounded as to what had happened, but what had been given less attention from the media was that "majority" was not the same as "all." Some of the Brotherhood had failed to make it to the tower in time. Some had been too far away from the tower, still fighting GDI forces, to be caught in the white light that had momentarily taken the tower and surrounding landscape. Some had been prisoners of war well before Louise James's assault on the structure. Whatever the case, the result was that there were still followers of Kane who'd been separated from their prophet, and followers who still had access to military equipment.

In a short amount of time, GDI had given the lands surrounding the tower to the Brotherhood. Some had protested. Some pointed out that eradicating the last of the Brotherhood would be a difficult, but not impossible effort. Some people said one thing, some said another, but in the end, the Brotherhood had been granted the land around the tower. And then-Major Antonio Marcos had become their de facto leader. Men, women, even children, living in the shadow of Threshold…plus GDI observation stations.

"So," Antonio said. "Shall we begin?"

Kirce frowned. By her reckoning, they'd already begun. And she didn't appreciate the lack of formality. Until 2062, GDI and Nod had been enemies. Two years ago, they'd become enemies again. A period of collaboration didn't mean that much to her.

"I guess we shall," Antonio said. He took out his own documents, but when he spoke, he didn't read from them. "Our demands are simple – a reduction of the presence of GDI forces around Kane's Tower by fifty percent within the next four years. Plus, unfretted access to the tower itself."

"Out of the question," Kirce said.

Antonio leant back in his chair and frowned. "Already at a stalemate then I see."

Kirce sighed. "You wanted to negotiate. I'm here to negotiate. If you don't want to negotiate, we could get on with what we're both best at."

"Like the old Colonel James of old?" Antonio asked. His frown deepened. "Yes, I have noticed the name tag. You don't have anywhere near her reputation, but birds of a feather flock together. Especially those of birds who run the world."

Kirce got up and walked to the window. She rested her chin on her fist, looking out over the landscape.

"You don't want to be here, do you?" Antonio asked.

Kirce remained silent as her thoughts drifted to 27/5/78, away from the current events of 2/6/78.

"Missing someone?"

She glanced round. "Maybe," she murmured.

Her mind was still on her daughter's fifth birthday. Of how, the day after, she learnt that she was being assigned to negotiate with the leader of what remained of the Brotherhood of Nod. Words had been exchanged between her and her counterparts in London. Words that were still kinder than those her daughter had said to her before she'd left.

"Believe it or not, I miss people as well," Antonio continued. He glanced at the windows. "My family called this place home before the arrival of the green crystal. The entire Marcos line fought for freedom against GDI, following the word of the Prophet."

Kirce fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Still," Antonio continued, "fate has deemed it appropriate that I and my fellow remain stranded while the worthy ascended with the Prophet to the Promised Land. Fate has likewise decreed that tiberium has fulfilled its purpose as the uplifter of humanity." His eyes narrowed. "And fate has likewise deemed it that I negotiate with one who shares the name of a maniac."

_Go to hell, _Kirce thought.

He cast his arms out, smiling. "So then. Shall we return to negotiations? Believe it or not, I do have family of my own to get back to."

Kirce, biting her tongue, nevertheless came back to the chair. She cut back a retort that children growing up under the watch of the Brotherhood was akin to child abuse. That regardless of how history would regard Louise James, she at least would never forget Kane as being the monster he was. And that if Antonio wanted to play the game of lineage, she could just as easily point out that her mother had served under Michael McNeil in the Second Tiberium War, giving her life for the world at Cairo. And that losing one's mother at the age of four didn't make one inclined to spend time away from their only family any longer than she had to.

"I want to make something clear," Kirce said. "GDI forces stationed at Threshold can come and go. It's not up to me to make those decisions. But I can assure you that no-one, and I mean _no-one_, will ever have access to that tower."

"No-one of the Brotherhood you mean."

"No-one," Kirce reiterated. "Nothing that could possibly alert the scrin."

Antonio scoffed. "The scrin have mastered tiberium even beyond what the Prophet left for this world. You think they won't know about your continued observation towers?"

Kirce frowned. "The scrin are the enemies of all mankind. You should know that."

"Oh, I do. I accept that. Still, the scrin aren't here. GDI is. You own the planet, you own the TCN, and even then you can't keep your fascist claws out of my people."

"Fascist," Kirce scoffed. "Better than then a terrorist."

Antonio clenched his fist, and for a moment, Kirce was afraid that he was going to use it. Instead however, he slowly unclenched it, took his cup, and took a sip. Just as slowly, he lowered the cup back to the table.

"This is getting us nowhere," he murmured. "The Brotherhood of Nod has existed for thousands of years, and will exist a thousand more. Question is, how willing are you to let that happen? How willing is GDI to let my people carve out a life for themselves here?"

Kirce leant back in her chair. She tried to imagine it. She really did, the idea of Nod having a society that remotely resembled anything that might be called "civilized." She tried to imagine mothers…fathers…children…and found herself reflecting on her own life instead.

Children weren't a common commodity for people like her. Hard enough to serve GDI and serve as a mother or father. Hard for anyone to want to bring a child into the world when it was collapsing around them, especially as the 2060s rolled in and the predictions that 2068 would mark the point where humanity would be extinct. But against the odds, Kane and GDI had managed it. The TCN had begun to heal the world. A world of only a few dozen million humans after a former 6 billion when tiberium had first arrived, with GDI saying that it was time for people to…well, "get busy." Or, in her case, get IVF treatment. To do her part. Her father had managed to raise her by his lonesome, she figured that she could do the same for Emma Allison James as well. Only now, days after her daughter's fifth birthday, she was failing. Failing to be there for her, and failing to find a middle ground with Antonio.

"You mentioned children," Kirce murmured eventually.

Antonio raised an eyebrow. "I did," he said.

"Any of yours?"

"One," he said.

"He's with your wife?"

"Husband, actually. And yes."

"How old?"

"Three," Antonio said. "And before you ask anything else, I'd like to know what this has to do with anything."

Kirce nodded outside the window. "What do you see out there Antonio?"

"Kane's Tower."

She sighed. "Yes, but apart from that?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"It isn't a trick question," Kirce said. "What do you see?"

"Hills…grass…trees…"

"Hmm." She leant back in her chair. "Not a bad place to be, no?"

Antonio remained silent, but Kirce could tell that he was probing her.

"Look," Kirce said, leaning forward and rubbing her hands. "I don't particularly care what you believe. Your prophet, your green crystal, your divination, your ascension…I don't care. But if Kane was meant to lead you to the Promised Land and didn't…" She leant back, and cast her arms out. "Why can't this be your Promised Land? Life's returning to it. More life, human or otherwise, could come to it. If this is the land your ancestors lived in, why can't you make it a land your descendants will want to call home as well?"

Antonio didn't say anything.

"If your Prophet is right, and tiberium is meant as a gift, because of the TCN, couldn't your paradise be here?"

He still didn't say anything, but for the twinkle in his eye, Kirce could see she was getting to him.

"I have a daughter," she said.

And the twinkle twinkled even more twinkly. "How old?" Antonio murmured.

"As of a week ago? Five." She smiled sadly. "You know, I never thought I'd have children. Never really wanted any, what with the world, the war, the…everything. But now…now, I can't stop thinking about her. I want this to be done as soon as possible so I can get back to her. And I want her to have a better life than I did, because my life has seen three world wars, the death of millions, first contact with a hostile alien species, and the collapse of Earth's biosphere. And she isn't going to get that world if we don't learn to compromise." She met Antonio's eyes. "I think you'd want that for your son. For your family. For your people."

Antonio said nothing, but Kirce could tell that she was starting to sway him.

"So," she said, turning to the next page of her documents. "How about we start talking like adults and make this better world? For all of us?"

Antonio still remained silent, but gave her a small smile, and likewise turned his pages. Not knowing what the woman opposite was thinking.

Colonel Louise James had started a war.

Maybe Colonel Kirce James could prevent one.


End file.
